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Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Review: Future Ghosts - Oh, Great City

Well, I'm finally getting around to my first review of the year, and I'm happy to say that Greensboro, NC rockers, Future Ghosts, have released a debut EP definitely worth talking about. Oh, Great City, was released on Jan 3rd through Round Kid Records and was produced by Brooks Paschal of Sullivan. I've seen Future Ghosts describe themselves as an alternative rock group with pop elements. Really, 'pop elements' should be replaced with 'ridiculously catchy songs'.

Album opener and standout track, "Spotless", will immediately pull you into foot-tapping euphoria. Honestly, this song is so good, with plenty of great guitar hooks. I will definitely be coming back to listen to this song over and over again throughout the year. The next track, "Grace", slows things down a little. However, the music really adds a sense of gravity to the lyrics. And, as if to emphasize the point late in the track, Future Ghosts lay out one of the heaviest riffs in the album as Aslan Freeman yells 'you always reel me out a littler farther'. "Lock the Light In" enters into the piano-guitar combination that we've all come to know so well in piano-driven pop-rock albums. The pacing of this song, however, and the highlighted guitar near the end of the track keep the song fresh and fun. "Distiller" is the second standout song on the album. The guitar-work (again!) is absolutely fantastic, with some pretty awesome experimental sounds as well as some really cool syncopated beats. The final track, "It Was the Pilot", starts with soft vocals accompanied by intimate piano-work. But, in true finale form, this song blasts off into an all-encompassing rock ballad to bring us to the close of Oh, Great City.

As I implied at the beginning of this review, Oh, Great City, is a very solid debut EP from Future Ghosts. The excellent guitar-work, unique vocals, and meaningful lyrics prove that these guys have what it takes to be huge in today's scene. I can't wait to see what the future brings for these guys. But, in the meantime, y'all should start the year off right and buy this album.

Stream the entire album in my "For Your Ears" section!

You can purchase Oh, Great City on iTunes, Amazon, and Bandcamp. Note, that the Bandcamp version includes two bonus tracks.